There's so much going on that it's hard to find the time to blog! But I turned in a paper at 3 today, so now I have a little bit of time.
Ah, where to start?! Hm, let's see. Last Saturday it was really nice outside so a few of us went on a search for an (American) football to toss around. We ended up buying a Nerf football and hiked down to the Magdalen College playing fields because football on the lawns here would be frowned upon. So there were six of us, barefoot, passing the football around when this dude comes up to us and tells us we can't play there. Why? Well because that's the cricket pitch, duh! Apparently we might mess up the delicate cricket grass with our bare feet...yeah, these people are psycho about their grass! So we hiked some more and finally found a public park in which to play. Then we played 3 on 3 and I actually learned the rules of American football. In England, go figure. Not going to lie, though, I was super sore after a few hours of it.
On Sunday, we decided to be stereotypical Oxford tourists and go punting. In case you don't know, punting is a kind of boating. The boat is a narrow, flat boat that you propel with a pole while standing in the back of it. Between the five of us, we managed to go, oh, maybe twenty yards. We spent far more time hitting the banks and trees than we did actually going forward. We had a great time, though. The best part was when we were getting onto our boat, we saw this soaking wet kid that had obviously fallen in at some point. We asked the boat guy if the kid had fallen in, and he said in his British accent: "Yes, but that's what you get for being French." Heh, yeah European solidarity!
Monday, Tuesday, and most of yesterday were spent in the library and bookstore doing some reading and other homework. The big bookstore chain here is called Blackwell and it is AMAZING!! (I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but is is really THAT cool.) It has 5 (I think) floors, and on the top floor they sell used books. The layout is really twisty and cool with rooms full of books everywhere! It's such a great place to go do homework, and I really think they should bring them to the States.
The past few days weren't terribly exciting, but yesterday afternoon we had quite the adventure. We are only supposed to get to see one Shakespeare play at Stratford-upon-Avon, and we saw "A Winter's Tale" last week. But, there is also a business school program going on here right now, and they went to see their play last night. Somehow, though, they ended up with extra tickets, so we got to see "As You Like It" last night. We took the train there, which was awesome. It's very chill and relaxing, and there are seats with tables which I find really cool. We got there a little early, so we worked in a coffee shop until the play started. And holy crap, the play was incredible! I don't even like "As You Like It" that much, but man did I love that production. The roles were so well-cast, and the actors had amazing synergy that made the play click. After we left the theater, our adventure really started. We were supposed to meet the business group outside to ride back with them, but we could not find Yannis, their leader-guy, anywhere. We looked for fifteen minutes or so, but he just was not there. We had talked to him about how we were going to meet up to ride the coach with them, so we knew they hadn't left without us or anything. So we finally gave up and booked it to the train station and got the last train back to Oxford. We had lots of fun on the way back, so we didn't mind riding the train. But we didn't get back til well after midnight, so we were tired this morning! It turns out that the business group was there after all, but Yannis had to go to the doctor so he couldn't come. Oh well, it was a fun adventure!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
RIP Aunt Nancy, 1954-2010
I will try to update my blog later, but before I talk about any recent Oxford adventures, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathies to my Uncle Mike, cousins Patti and Danny, Aunt Patti, Uncle Michael, and to my mother. My Aunt Nancy passed away on Monday after a courageous 18 year battle with breast cancer. She was fifty-five. Although I did not get to spend much time with Aunt Nancy, I know that she was an incredible and strong woman. I am greatly saddened by my inability to attend her funeral, but after much research into plane tickets, it would be impossible for me to get there in time. I will certainly be keeping the family in my thoughts over the next few weeks. Aunt Nancy, you will be missed! Her obituary: http://data.tennessean.com/obits/DNJ/index.php?m=dtl&pro=DNJ0101322035-01
Friday, July 16, 2010
Written yesterday afternoon (July 15):
I know I have been somewhat negligent in updating this week, but my first essay is due today at 3, so I've been busy! It was only a 6-8page paper about Shakespeare's use of the supernatural in his tragedies, but for some reason, I actually found it pretty hard to write. I think it's partially the whole first paper syndrome, but I do also have to blame the very distracting nature of Oxford. As cool as Shakespeare's tragedies are, there are a lot of awesome and distracting things to do around here. But the paper is now complete. I basically wrote about how the whole culture surrounding clothing in Tudor England (look up Tudor Sumptuary Laws sometime, interesting stuff!) helped Shakespeare to write characters for which the audience would easily suspend belief. This is, I argued, one of the reasons that his witches and ghosts were successful characters even. It's not the best paper I've ever written, but it's not the worst either, so we'll see how it goes.
In order to write my paper, I re-read Macbeth and read King Lear for the first time. I really enjoyed both plays, but I especially loved King Lear. For some reason, it tends to be one of the least-liked Shakespeare plays, but I wholeheartedly disagree. It's full of betrayal, treason, the removal of eyeballs and other such fun. Then (spoiler alert) all the good guys die and the bad guys live happily ever after. It's awesome.
We also went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "A Winter's Tale" last night at Stratford upon Avon. Shakespeare's birthplace is disappointingly commercialized, which is rather unfortunate. I will admit, however, to purchasing a few awesome things in the gift shop, including an eraser that says "Out, damn spot!" and a button with the quote "And though she be but little, she is fierce," from A Midsummer Night's Dream. The production itself was pretty good. The set was incredible, and for the most part, the acting was great. I was, however somewhat disappointed at the actress they chose for Paulina. Still, it was pretty cool. Next Wednesday we're going to see "As You Like It," which should also be good.
Time for class!
I know I have been somewhat negligent in updating this week, but my first essay is due today at 3, so I've been busy! It was only a 6-8page paper about Shakespeare's use of the supernatural in his tragedies, but for some reason, I actually found it pretty hard to write. I think it's partially the whole first paper syndrome, but I do also have to blame the very distracting nature of Oxford. As cool as Shakespeare's tragedies are, there are a lot of awesome and distracting things to do around here. But the paper is now complete. I basically wrote about how the whole culture surrounding clothing in Tudor England (look up Tudor Sumptuary Laws sometime, interesting stuff!) helped Shakespeare to write characters for which the audience would easily suspend belief. This is, I argued, one of the reasons that his witches and ghosts were successful characters even. It's not the best paper I've ever written, but it's not the worst either, so we'll see how it goes.
In order to write my paper, I re-read Macbeth and read King Lear for the first time. I really enjoyed both plays, but I especially loved King Lear. For some reason, it tends to be one of the least-liked Shakespeare plays, but I wholeheartedly disagree. It's full of betrayal, treason, the removal of eyeballs and other such fun. Then (spoiler alert) all the good guys die and the bad guys live happily ever after. It's awesome.
We also went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of "A Winter's Tale" last night at Stratford upon Avon. Shakespeare's birthplace is disappointingly commercialized, which is rather unfortunate. I will admit, however, to purchasing a few awesome things in the gift shop, including an eraser that says "Out, damn spot!" and a button with the quote "And though she be but little, she is fierce," from A Midsummer Night's Dream. The production itself was pretty good. The set was incredible, and for the most part, the acting was great. I was, however somewhat disappointed at the actress they chose for Paulina. Still, it was pretty cool. Next Wednesday we're going to see "As You Like It," which should also be good.
Time for class!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Well this time last Thursday I was on my way to London. It definitely seems like it has been more than a week since I got on that plane! (Although that plane ride did seem longer than a week. Hey Dad, wanna spring for first class on the way home?) Anyway, Oxford is still amazing. Yesterday we went on a walking tour through the city with this adorable British lady as our guide. She showed us where J.R. Tolkien lived in the years before his death. We also saw the building where all Oxford students take their exams. The exam system is confusing here, but from what I can tell, a students' work at Oxford is measured by three exams, one after each undergraduate year. The students are also required to dress for each exam in their cap and gown, giving the cap/gown slightly different significance than we're used to. After we passed the Examination College, we saw the building that Cecil Rhodes had built to house Rhodes scholars. Apparently he was a bit of a megalomaniac, because he made sure that the statue of him was situated higher on the building than the statues of the kings are. Finally, we visited another Oxford College, called Jesus College. Aside from having a pretty awesome name, Jesus College also has Lord Krebs (son of the Krebs Cycle dude) as its president.
Now I mentioned my housing last time, but it's definitely something worth discussing in a bit more detail. My room is on the top floor (up 82 stairs) of the New Building at Magdalen College. Although it was built in 1733, it is indeed very new compared to some of the older buildings which date back to 1467. There is a tree outside of our building that is probably older than any structure in the United States. This place is OLD! Another cool thing about this building is that it was the home of C.S. Lewis when he was a student here. The rooms are enormous, and many of the other study abroad students are afraid to sleep because they're convinced that the rooms are haunted. We also have a deer park behind the building, and according to the guys on the first floor, the deer make very strange noises all night.
Studying at Oxford is not all fun, games, and deer, though. I had my first tutorial today, which was on a short passage from one of Shakespeare's later plays called "Coriolanus." We spent over an hour going through 50 or so lines, so it was indeed a VERY close reading. Although we only had those 50 lines to read from the play, we also had 5-6 books to look into for supplementary reading. I would highly recommend the Bill Bryson Shakespeare biography to anyone who is interested. Definitely an good read. For Tuesday, we're discussing a more broad topic, and for Thursday we will have essays due about Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth.
Before I head off to bed, I do have to make one complaint about my experience here. The food, I must admit, is really awful. Included in our program are three meals a day at the Magdalen dining hall. The hall itself is really cool, old, and ornate. The food, however, leaves a lot to be desired. They love serving potatoes (often 2-3 different potato dishes in a single meal). Because we're all doing a lot of walking and not a lot of eating, we're always hungry! On Monday nights, though, we have a formal dinner with slightly better food. We have a speaker at 5, followed by a reception at 6, and dinner at 7. The reception consists of standing on the lawn and drinking champagne and sparkling water, while the dinner is a three course affair. Each week, a different set of students has to sit with the speaker and the professors at "High Table." It's all very snooty and lots of fun. :)
Enjoy all your heat!
~Annalisa
Now I mentioned my housing last time, but it's definitely something worth discussing in a bit more detail. My room is on the top floor (up 82 stairs) of the New Building at Magdalen College. Although it was built in 1733, it is indeed very new compared to some of the older buildings which date back to 1467. There is a tree outside of our building that is probably older than any structure in the United States. This place is OLD! Another cool thing about this building is that it was the home of C.S. Lewis when he was a student here. The rooms are enormous, and many of the other study abroad students are afraid to sleep because they're convinced that the rooms are haunted. We also have a deer park behind the building, and according to the guys on the first floor, the deer make very strange noises all night.
Studying at Oxford is not all fun, games, and deer, though. I had my first tutorial today, which was on a short passage from one of Shakespeare's later plays called "Coriolanus." We spent over an hour going through 50 or so lines, so it was indeed a VERY close reading. Although we only had those 50 lines to read from the play, we also had 5-6 books to look into for supplementary reading. I would highly recommend the Bill Bryson Shakespeare biography to anyone who is interested. Definitely an good read. For Tuesday, we're discussing a more broad topic, and for Thursday we will have essays due about Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth.
Before I head off to bed, I do have to make one complaint about my experience here. The food, I must admit, is really awful. Included in our program are three meals a day at the Magdalen dining hall. The hall itself is really cool, old, and ornate. The food, however, leaves a lot to be desired. They love serving potatoes (often 2-3 different potato dishes in a single meal). Because we're all doing a lot of walking and not a lot of eating, we're always hungry! On Monday nights, though, we have a formal dinner with slightly better food. We have a speaker at 5, followed by a reception at 6, and dinner at 7. The reception consists of standing on the lawn and drinking champagne and sparkling water, while the dinner is a three course affair. Each week, a different set of students has to sit with the speaker and the professors at "High Table." It's all very snooty and lots of fun. :)
Enjoy all your heat!
~Annalisa
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Oxford is NOT London!
Okay, so since people here get really pissy about the typical American idea of what exactly Oxford is, I shall attempt to explain. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, Oxford is NOT London, nor is it IN London. The University of Oxford is actually located in a town called, surprise!, Oxford, which is about an hour away from London. Another big misconception is that Oxford is, like typical American universities, a single academic entity. In reality, it is a federation of over forty different colleges and halls, some of the more famous being Christ Church College and Pembroke College. I am studying at Magdalen (pronounced maud-lin) College, which is actually one of the older ones. The colleges each have their own internal structure, libraries, dining halls, and residence facilities, but they do share some things like the Bodleian Library.
The Bodleian Library is extremely awesome so I'm going to go into a little more detail about it. It is one of the oldest and biggest libraries in England, and it has the right to a copy of any book published in Britain and Ireland. It has four copies of the Magna Carta, one of the very few remaining Gutenburg bibles, Shakespeare's First Folio, and yesterday I saw a first edition of Principia Mathmatica. In order to get access to the library, you basically have to have a background check, be an Oxford student, and participate in a swearing-in ceremony in which you make the following pledge: "I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library." One of the coolest things about the Bodleian Library is that its Duke Humfrey's Library was the library in the Harry Potter movies, and the Divinity School was the infirmary.
As for academic structure at Oxford, it depends some on the class but most follow a basic common structure. In England, there are far fewer hours spent in class with instructors and far more hours spent individually on research and writing. My class meets twice a week. On Tuesdays, we have lecture from 2-4, and on Thursday I have a tutorial from 3-4. There is a 2500-word essay due for each tutorial. There are five people in my lecture, and the group is split into 2 and 3 for tutorials. There is no real textbook, but there is an extensive reading list (all of Shakespeare and a multi-page list of critical works about Shakespeare) from which we are expected to select sources and extra reading for our essays. I have had one class and have already had to spend 35 pounds on more books.
Outside of classes and tutorials, we are pretty much free to do whatever we want to. The program director stressed that we should try not to focus on grades and should instead try to get as much as possible from the program. They suggest attempting to travel as much as our schedule will permit. This weekend, some of us are hoping to go on a day trip to Canterbury, Dover, and Hastings. Later in the program we hope to visit Edinburgh, and we might try either Ireland or Paris. Our classes are held here at Magdalen College, and we also live on the Magdalen grounds. My room is in the top floor of the "New Building" (new, that is, in 1733). I'll try to get some more pictures of the College and the town of Oxford up in the next few days. For now, I'd better go read some Shakespeare!
Cheers!
Annalisa
The Bodleian Library is extremely awesome so I'm going to go into a little more detail about it. It is one of the oldest and biggest libraries in England, and it has the right to a copy of any book published in Britain and Ireland. It has four copies of the Magna Carta, one of the very few remaining Gutenburg bibles, Shakespeare's First Folio, and yesterday I saw a first edition of Principia Mathmatica. In order to get access to the library, you basically have to have a background check, be an Oxford student, and participate in a swearing-in ceremony in which you make the following pledge: "I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library." One of the coolest things about the Bodleian Library is that its Duke Humfrey's Library was the library in the Harry Potter movies, and the Divinity School was the infirmary.
As for academic structure at Oxford, it depends some on the class but most follow a basic common structure. In England, there are far fewer hours spent in class with instructors and far more hours spent individually on research and writing. My class meets twice a week. On Tuesdays, we have lecture from 2-4, and on Thursday I have a tutorial from 3-4. There is a 2500-word essay due for each tutorial. There are five people in my lecture, and the group is split into 2 and 3 for tutorials. There is no real textbook, but there is an extensive reading list (all of Shakespeare and a multi-page list of critical works about Shakespeare) from which we are expected to select sources and extra reading for our essays. I have had one class and have already had to spend 35 pounds on more books.
Outside of classes and tutorials, we are pretty much free to do whatever we want to. The program director stressed that we should try not to focus on grades and should instead try to get as much as possible from the program. They suggest attempting to travel as much as our schedule will permit. This weekend, some of us are hoping to go on a day trip to Canterbury, Dover, and Hastings. Later in the program we hope to visit Edinburgh, and we might try either Ireland or Paris. Our classes are held here at Magdalen College, and we also live on the Magdalen grounds. My room is in the top floor of the "New Building" (new, that is, in 1733). I'll try to get some more pictures of the College and the town of Oxford up in the next few days. For now, I'd better go read some Shakespeare!
Cheers!
Annalisa
Sunday, July 4, 2010
So, I'm in England now! I've actually been in England since Saturday morning, but we were doing an orientation in London before we drove to Oxford (about 1hr by bus) this morning. The trip here was uneventful, although my poor suitcase has met an unfortunate and quite untimely death at the hands of Delta. They had my bag for just over an hour, now it no longer rolls and anything plastic on it is in multiple pieces. I might have to ship everything home in August...
London is AWESOME. I can't say I saw too much of it in the 2 days I was there, but what I did see was amazing. I shall make a list of cool things about London:
1. Public transportation: Apparently Londoners like to complain about the Tube (it is SUPER hot in there) but the whole system is actually really incredibly engineered. Double decker buses are cool too.
2. Diversity: People in London are from everywhere. Walking down the street, it's easy to hear upwards of ten languages in five minutes. So many people from so many places!
3. The drinking age is 18. While I personally choose not to drink, I think it's absurd that Americans can't drink (legally, that is) until we're twenty-one.
4. Proximity to cool places: You can get from London to Paris by train in under 2 hours. Round trips can be less than 60pounds (about $90). How cool is that? We're also day trips from much of the rest of Europe including Amsterdam (dunno why people seem to be so excited about that...).
5. Cool things happen in London. Throughout London, there's always something going on in the squares. Yesterday when we were on a walking tour, we went through this massive gay pride march which was sweet. Lots of drag queens and other such awesomeness.
Now, in order to stay fair to my country on this 4th of July, I shall also make a list of things that America seems to be better about.
1. Smoking: Apparently, Brits don't really have the whole "smoking is bad" thing down yet. The overall percentage of smokers is higher and the areas in which they are allowed to smoke are far more prevalent.
2. Prices: Things here are expensive! Everything from souvenirs to food is much higher priced here than I am used to at home. The prices look about the same, but since pounds are worth about $1.50, things are actually about 50% more expensive.
3. Okay so this isn't really fair, but time! The time change of 5hrs is a bit rough, but I guess London isn't really to blame for that.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that London is great, and I will definitely be going back there to see some of the sights and such later this month. I have to go to King's Cross, of course! I have the Oxford orientation in about 20 minutes, but sometime tonight or tomorrow I will certainly write more about Magdalen College and Oxford.
Miss you all!!
~Annalisa~
London is AWESOME. I can't say I saw too much of it in the 2 days I was there, but what I did see was amazing. I shall make a list of cool things about London:
1. Public transportation: Apparently Londoners like to complain about the Tube (it is SUPER hot in there) but the whole system is actually really incredibly engineered. Double decker buses are cool too.
2. Diversity: People in London are from everywhere. Walking down the street, it's easy to hear upwards of ten languages in five minutes. So many people from so many places!
3. The drinking age is 18. While I personally choose not to drink, I think it's absurd that Americans can't drink (legally, that is) until we're twenty-one.
4. Proximity to cool places: You can get from London to Paris by train in under 2 hours. Round trips can be less than 60pounds (about $90). How cool is that? We're also day trips from much of the rest of Europe including Amsterdam (dunno why people seem to be so excited about that...).
5. Cool things happen in London. Throughout London, there's always something going on in the squares. Yesterday when we were on a walking tour, we went through this massive gay pride march which was sweet. Lots of drag queens and other such awesomeness.
Now, in order to stay fair to my country on this 4th of July, I shall also make a list of things that America seems to be better about.
1. Smoking: Apparently, Brits don't really have the whole "smoking is bad" thing down yet. The overall percentage of smokers is higher and the areas in which they are allowed to smoke are far more prevalent.
2. Prices: Things here are expensive! Everything from souvenirs to food is much higher priced here than I am used to at home. The prices look about the same, but since pounds are worth about $1.50, things are actually about 50% more expensive.
3. Okay so this isn't really fair, but time! The time change of 5hrs is a bit rough, but I guess London isn't really to blame for that.
Anyway, the moral of the story is that London is great, and I will definitely be going back there to see some of the sights and such later this month. I have to go to King's Cross, of course! I have the Oxford orientation in about 20 minutes, but sometime tonight or tomorrow I will certainly write more about Magdalen College and Oxford.
Miss you all!!
~Annalisa~
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